Review by: Jason Norris, openingbands.com

"Rising from the ashes of the local giants Absinthe Blind and Maserati, Headlights are one of the latest additions to the Champaign-Urbana music scene. Their debut, The Enemies EP, was released on August 31 and commenced their 26 show, nationwide tour.

A quick listen will undoubtedly bring comparisons to Death Cab For Cutie, The Getup Kids, and The Anniversary. However, Headlights do not simply regurgitate the sounds of their peers.

The instrumentation on The Enemies EP is layered and musically complex enough to satisfy even the most discriminating indie hipsters while remaining palatable and catchy enough to make your preteen sister nod her head. The drums and bass are tight and almost constantly moving and the guitar sounds drift from jangly arpeggios to Grandaddyesque power chord chugging. Tastefully placed synth parts swell and fill at all the right times, reminding you of why you love bands with keyboards (or at least it should!).

The highlight of this EP for me, however, is the vocal work. The half male/half female lead vocals blend together nicely and are quite reminiscent of the late Absinthe Blind. Unlike a large number of recently popular bands, Headlights lyrics shy away from broken hearted introspection and lend themselves more to clever, worldly observations and mild social commentary. Whether it's feeling at home in a foreign place like in "Tokyo" ("If home is where the heart is/then home is here") or coping with modern paranoia in "Centuries" ("If we all read between the lines/We'll all die someday"), the lyrics on The Enemies EP won't change your life but they will more than likely make you think.

All in all, The Enemies EP is a very strong debut for the Headlights [...]"

http://www.openingbands.com/reviews/?forceissue=2004-10-01#1